Lackluster earnings reports from retailers have raised questions about whether the 2015 holiday shopping season will bring as much of a boost to the U.S. economy as hoped.

Apparel giant Gap and kitchen and home furnishings chain Williams-Sonoma late this week became the latest big U.S. retailers to slash their profit forecast for the critical December quarter.

A tiny Swiss bank specialized in financing social and environmental projects will on January 1 go where no retail lender has gone before, applying negative interest rates on individual clients.

The Alternative Bank Schweiz (ABS) caused shockwaves with a letter sent to all clients in mid-October informing them that it would begin imposing interest charges on deposits in 2016.

Brazilian Monica de Oliveira thought she'd forever left behind those days of worrying about getting her daughter new clothes.

As part of a wave of poor Brazilians to enter a basic sort of middle class in recent years, de Oliveira was a Latin American success story. But for how much longer?

France can withstand the financial shock of the Paris attacks, analysts say, despite people deserting big stores, shunning concert halls and cancelling hotel bookings.

Beyond the incalculable human cost, the experience of attacks in New York in 2001, Madrid in 2004, London in 2005, and Mumbai in 2008 shows the economic impact may be fleeting.

Standard and Poor's raised The Netherlands back to its top AAA credit rating on Friday, saying the eurozone nation's economic recovery has gained traction.

"The upgrade reflects our view of the strengthening of the economic recovery in The Netherlands, with domestic demand growing strongly as a result of increases in real disposable income, employment, and investment activity," the ratings agency said in a statement.

Chinese authorities have uncovered an "underground bank" which illegally transferred money overseas in a case valued at $64 billion, said to be the country's largest ever, according to a police statement.

Police in the eastern city of Jinhua found that the chief suspect, whose surname was given as Zhao, set up shell companies in Hong Kong and then made transfers from the mainland through a network of more than 800 bank accounts, said a Jinhua police statement posted on Friday.

Los Angeles International Airport officials have approved opening a special terminal for the rich and famous to wait for their flights far from the paparazzi and riffraff.

The lounge, which was given the green light on Thursday, eclipses even the business class and first class areas available at major airports.

ECB chief Mario Draghi said Friday the bank will "do what we must" to lift inflation as quickly as possible, in a new sign it could boost its anti-deflation defences.

In a speech at the Frankfurt European Banking Congress, Draghi warned that inflation was stubbornly way below the target of close to 2 percent even though the bank has deployed a 1.1 trillion euros ($1.2 trillion) scheme to help lift consumer prices.

Oil prices were higher in Asia Friday, but gains were limited in a market burdened by a persistent oversupply.

A continued rise in U.S. commercial crude inventories further confirmed predictions the glut will last well into next year, with Iran also expected ramp up production when Western sanctions are lifted under a deal with major powers to curb its nuclear program.

German car giant Volkswagen, tainted by an emissions scandal, is keeping a low profile as it attends a major auto show in the United States and prepares to meet with regulators.

Gone were the company's flashy presentations and pompous speeches at the Los Angeles Auto Show Wednesday when Volkswagen's chief executive in America, Michael Horn, made an appearance.